


Wiping All Out

by meiyamie



Series: The Emperor and Empress in Alignment [2]
Category: Persona 3
Genre: Awkward First Times, F/M, Introspection, Melodrama, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-14
Updated: 2018-01-27
Packaged: 2019-03-04 17:31:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13369674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meiyamie/pseuds/meiyamie
Summary: After the November event, the Empress is in reverse. It's Akihiko's turn to reach out to Mitsuru.





	1. The Empress in Reverse

**Author's Note:**

> -Persona 3 and its characters are property of Atlus and its affiliates. No profit has been made from this work of fan fiction. Opening epigraph comes from http://priania.com/2013/07/empress-in-love-and-relationships.html
> 
> -Content Warnings:  
> *SPOILER ALERT for the P3 Journey. This happens after the early November event.  
> *Contains fairly graphic and uncomfortable descriptions about sex, and consensual sexual relations between two teen aged individuals. This is done for dramatic purposes, but if you are not comfortable reading about that, this isn't the fanfic for you. More notes about this after the fic. 
> 
> -This fanfic is taking on a very strange journey, and I'd love to hear your feedback. Please drop a comment here or via e-mail at psychoshoujo@gmail.com. If you really like it, leave kudos.

  _The Empress in reverse position indicates a deep sorrow shared by both partners._  
_Unfortunately, it takes a lot of work to make the two better again._

After the death of her Father, Mitsuru had just about shut down completely from the rest of SEES. There was a tense quiet about her as she went about her routine at the dorm and school. There was work to do, and she threw herself into that. But Tartarus and SEES? Without saying a thing, they knew those subjects were off-limits.

Akihiko tried to reach out to her, but his visits to her room were ignored. Her door remained shut. He let it go on the first day, and the next. But the third time he knocked, he couldn’t stand it anymore. Worry and stress broke through.

“Open the door, Mitsuru, or I’ll break it myself.” He called.

Still silence.

Akihiko backed away, then broke into a run, angling his body to side as he rammed himself into the door. That was when Mitsuru finally opened it, eyes were narrowed and darkened from rage.

“No need to be dramatic, Akihiko.” Her voice was heated. “What the hell do you want?”

“Just let me in.” Akihiko’s voice was calm, knowing that his insistence was going to cost him dearly. “If you’re going to get mad at me for this Mitsuru, I know you’d rather scream at me behind closed doors than in the hallway for the juniors to hear.”

She spun away from him, letting him through. She refused to look back at him as he entered.

“I tried to see you last night.”

“But I didn’t want to see you.”

Akihiko reached out for her hand. “Mitsu--”

Mitsuru gave a loud cry of frustration and hugged herself protectively. She was trembling, and his heart sank as he watched her.

“You didn’t allow me to go through this alone. You don’t have to.”

Mitsuru raised her hands to her face, furiously rubbing her eyes with the palms of her hands.

“We all deal in our way, Akihiko. There’s no need for you to be here now.”

“There is. You’re my oldest friend and all I have left at this point and it...” He swallowed, needing to keeping his emotions under control as he said the next few words, “Don’t shut me out, Mitsuru. Not after everything we’ve been through.”

Mitsuru stamped her feet. She was on the verge of losing it, and while her insides were screaming at her to keep it together she felt like she was possessed by something else entirely. She wishes it was a shadow or even her Persona, but it wasn’t. She gave a whimper, raising her hands to cover her ears.

Akihiko saw Penthesilea for a second and a wall of frost cover her, then disappear.

He remained firm and standing. This was the worst he’d seen Mitsuru, but it was not the first time he saw her lash out. In the days before SEES was even named, a trainer once goaded her for not being quick enough with improvised weaponry, she got back at him by scratching his face with her hairpin. It had taken Shinjiro, Akihiko, and the trainer’s burly assistant to keep her from gouging his eye out with it. She was shy of fourteen years old when that had happened.

Akihiko mentally counted, waiting for her to eventually come to.

Mitsuru very slowly straightened up. She refused to look Akihiko in the eye but walked towards him. Akihiko held his breath as she did, and she stopped right in front of him. He looked at her from head to toe, noting that she was slowly unclenching her fists as she stood. She suddenly leaned against him, forehead to his chest. Akihiko caught her by her shoulders, rubbing her arms from top to bottom, shushing her. He could feel her trembling at his touch, and he knew that it wasn’t out of desire this time.

His arms wrapped around her slender body, holding her close to him. He slowly rocked her, and he could hear her sniffling as he did.

Soon, her sniffles became violent sobs, and all Akihiko could do was hold her.

 

“Aki.” A soft voice that he recognized as Mitsuru’s called. Akihiko, for a moment, remembered the Mitsuru from the weeks previous to their beach trip when it was just the two of them -- how her eyes lit up with joy when something caught her interest, that glint of amusement when Akihiko took things too literally.

He was gently nudged awake. “Aki. Wake up.”

It really was Mitsuru calling him. As she had collapsed into sobs earlier, he had ushered her to lie down, rubbing her back as she wailed it all out. When she had  quieted down, he decided to stay by her side. They must have fallen asleep at some point.

Akihiko fully opened his eyes, and found out that he had fallen asleep on his side, facing her. Mitsuru was looking at him intently. “We missed dinner, I think. It’s past seven.”

Akihiko yawned. “Did anyone look for us?”

“I don’t think so.”

He gently caressed her arm.

“Feeling better?”

“I...I don’t know...” Mitsuru looked bothered.

Akihiko gently tipped her chin up to him so he could look at her properly. He had meant to ask her to trust him, and to confide in him but suddenly, Mitsuru’s lips were upon his. Akihiko’s yelp of surprise was muffled as she deepend her kiss.

Where earlier, Akihiko saw that Mitsuru was short of kicking him out of her way, now she was desperate to keep him near. Akihiko relaxed against her, meeting her kisses, allowing her to take the lead. She tugged off his shirt and wasted no time in trailing open mouth kisses down the nape of his neck and his torso. In the heat of the moment, kisses alternated into scrapes of her teeth against his skin. 

Next thing he knew, she was on top of him. Mitsuru had pulled down his pants and his underwear with it, followed by her own. As she unsheathed herself of the old shirt she wore, she revealed not to have worn a bra underneath. Akihiko couldn't help himself, reaching out to cup them in his hands and give a squeeze. Their eyes met as he did, and Akihiko could see that she had completely lost himself in the heightened sensations between them. She started to move, grinding herself against the length of him. He whispered her name again, his hands at her hips, a quiet inquiry if she really wanted to get them to that next step.

In response, she ran her hands over his cock. Akihiko groaned in response, fully surrendering to her. He felt the inside of her slide over him, very tight and slow. She moved a part of herself over him, then slid out, making him gasp.

“Mitsuru...” He whispered. “Mitsuru, we don’t have--” He gave a loud sound as she was suddenly sheathed him completely, the warmth of her tightening around him. He groaned her name, and she moved herself over him again. Akihiko felt about an inch deeper in her as she did, and he moaned. Mitsuru gave another pump, harder this time and suddenly let out a sharp gasp. He grew alarmed and stilled. From the corner of his eyes however, he noticed a small splatter of fresh blood on the sheets that wasn’t there earlier.

Oh shit.

Mitsuru eased herself off him and back on the bed. They lay next to each other in tense silence, reeling from what just happened.

Finally, Akihiko spoke. “Are you alright?”

“Y-yeah.” Mitsuru replied.

“I’m... uh...I’m sorry.”

Mitsuru finally turned to him, confused.

“For?”

“I’m...” Akihiko tried to find the words to explain himself. “You’re right, I shouldn’t have barged in here. You weren’t yourself, and I don’t ever want to...dishonor you again, you of all people.” He was a fluster. He wasn’t even sure what had happened in the last ten minutes, or if it was anyone’s fault at all. It was 2009 but he knew that a woman of Mitsuru’s stature was valued and him being involved in this – whatever it was – tainted her.

“Stupid.”

Akihiko was surprised by the insult. Hurt, he sat up and picked up his clothes.

“Yes, Mitsuru, I was really stupid.” He dressed quickly.

“Aki, that’s not what I meant--” Mitsuru sat up, panicked.

Suddenly, Akihiko’s phone beeped. Akihiko checked and saw Minato’s name flashing on his screen with a brief message, “Tartarus tonight.”

“That was Minato. I have to get going. We... we don’t have to talk about this, Mitsuru. And know that I won’t say a thing.”

“Aki--”

He left without looking back.

 


	2. Empress, Drawn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Set after the Kyoto field trip, and a time skip to post-P3 Journey. After that awkward night and The Fall, how would Akihiko and Mitsuru make up?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -Disclaimers still apply.
> 
> -I had plans for this fanfic, then those plans got derailed. But so you won't be left hanging, here it is. It's admittedly very uneven, but it felt like it wanted to be told this way? In any case, feedback welcome via kudos, comment, and ye olde e-mail psychoshoujo@gmail.com.

 

_When the Empress appears during a period of transition, it indicates a new beginning._

_She can also refer to the happiness of another, and a growing love._

 

_2009._

Will he ever get to talk to Mitsuru again? Akihiko had no idea.

All he knew was that of all the shadows and fights he had been in over the years, this – her refusal to talk to him and the bruises from her execution really stung. And just as he sensed that she was getting to be more ‘herself’ again, Stupei just had to drag them into one of his stupid ideas only to get caught then punished.

Akihiko’s amazed that he can still walk. And where in the ring there was an understanding that a fight was over and done, on more personal matters involving women he shared a building with – that fight was far from over. It seemed almost endless. Maybe the world should just end and eat them all alive, so there would be no memory whatsoever of this awful month.

As soon as they returned to the dorm, the girls had stalked off to their respective rooms, locking the doors behind them. Junpei also holed himself in his own room, as he had experienced perhaps the worst of the execution, with significant support from Yukari.

It was just Akihiko and Minato in the living room that early evening.

“Let’s go to Tartarus?” Minato suggested, hopeful. Even he was itching for an excuse for a breath of fresh air.

Akihiko was tempted to play the senior card and entertained the possibility of leaving Junpei at the hands of Death, but he sighed.

“We shouldn’t. Our energy’s spent from the trip.”

“So that means we’re stuck here...with the girls we just pissed off...?”

Akihiko groaned.

“I have to say, Akihiko, you seem more affected by this than expected. Are you and Mitsuru alright?”

“What-- how did that name come up?”

“You’ve turned red in the face.”

“Hngh.”

Minato looked around and made sure the girls were out of earshot.

“Some months ago, I saw Mitsuru enter your room...and not come out until the following morning.”

“We had a lot of work to do.” Akihiko immediately said.

“If it was work, she wouldn’t have been in such a hurry to get back to her room. Nor would she care about being caught--”

“Arisato, I am not having talking about this with you.”

“Okay.” Minato paused. “But uh, I hope you and Mitsuru figure things out. You’re a good match.”

“You say that after she tried to kill us all?!”

“Well, we aren’t dead!”

Akihiko shook his head and stood up. “Good night, Minato.”

“Night. Don’t worry, it’ll get better. We still have Tartarus to conquer.”

 

_2012._

As much as the members of SEES were there for each other to remember Minato, it was like their bond only really forged after graduation. Through their grief they found it in themselves to talk about the life that lay ahead of them. Their tears soon dried, and they learned how to laugh again. They shared heart-to-heart talks, movie and game nights, and even another beach trip.

But with that last beach trip, outside of the confines of Tatsumi Port Island, they also realized that they had to get away from each other for a while.

It started with Aegis, when the lab technicians at Kirijo Group to stay on for updates. Junpei volunteered to stay with her, admitting that he needed some distance from Tatsumi Port Island. Mitsuru granted his request, which took everyone by surprise. Junpei agreed to stay at the beach for as long as Aegis was getting repaired. As soon as the lab was done, he’d return with her.

Then Fuuka announced that she had applied for a student exchange scholarship program. Before summer classes, she received her acceptance letter and by the term’s end she had left to stay in Singapore for a year.

Several weeks later, Ken was asked to relocate to Okinawa by a Godfather in the military there. His Godfather was insistent on the move, and Ken only agreed to it if he were allowed to bring Koromaru along.

Meanwhile, Yukari mustered the courage to ask to move to a smaller apartment across town. She could support herself while studying thanks to being on the Kirijo Group payroll and a part-time job at the Chagall Cafe. Mitsuru and Akihijo saw no reason to keep her at the dorm, and granted her wish. She moved out by February.

And then there was Mitsuru and Akihiko.

 

She was pacing again.

It had only been a few days since Yukari left, but Akihiko noticed that Mitsuru’s been extra tense as of late. It was like the first time they arrived at Iwatodai Dorm, but instead of the wonder at the life that lay ahead of them as students with a mission to uncover the dark hour, now there was this extra nervousness to her. Mitsuru was clearly rattled, and it was...unusual, to say the least.

“Mitsuru.” Akihiko called.

She followed his voice after a few minutes.

“Yes?” She asked.

“I was thinking,” Akihiko said nonchalantly, “Let’s go out for dinner.”

“Oh. Uhmn, I’m not hungry. You go on ahead.”

“There’s nothing in the pantry or kitchen. You won’t have anything to eat for when you finally get hungry.”

“I’ll make do, that’s what delivery is for.”

“Mitsuru.” Akihiko chided.

He could see Mitsuru glower slightly at him but he didn’t back down. Over the last few years, he’d learned to be more blunt with her. They were once better friends, but since that night that they refused to talk about from years ago, they had become more like close colleagues instead. He no longer feared “execution” when he knew he was in the right. And he had noticed that over time, particularly after the Fall, she had started to be more considerate of his say in their every day work with SEES.

“Go with me to the grocery, we’ll buy some things, and I’ll make us dinner, ok?” His voice was gentle, “I don’t want to leave you alone, not while you’re in this state. And I don’t think you want to be left alone either.”

A pause, then Mitsuru gave a nod. “Give me a second, I’ll just grab my purse.”

 

They went to the grocery nearby and stocked up on ramen, some bread, and a few ingredients for dinner. Dinner that night would be steamed eel on rice with furikake, with a quick green salad with sesame dressing -- simple but with a little more than the usual dorm fare.

“Better than Fuuka’s, huh?” Akihiko teased as Mitsuru cleaned her bowl.

“Shinjiro taught you well.” Mitsuru complimented.

“I don’t know if you ever noticed, but when we were younger and I tended to piss Shinji off... he’d cook, but just for himself, not me. Imagine doing that to a thirteen year old growing boy after those nights at The Pit.”

Mitsuru actually chuckled.

“That is terrible.”

“I had to teach myself. I found Shinji’s recipe books, and practiced from there. He is still the better cook, but I’d say I’m pretty good at making sure we didn’t starve.”

She nodded along. “I guess that leaves me to clean up after us then.”

“Oh don’t worry about it, I’ll help.”

“It’s fine.”

Mitsuru cleared the table and headed for the kitchen to wash the dishes. Akihiko joined her, but she was insistent on taking on the job herself. Akihiko decided to heat some water instead,

“Tea or hot chocolate?” He asked her.

“Tea with honey.” Mitsuru replied.

“Coming right up. Shall we watch a movie tonight?”

“I was thinking of catching up on some reading, actually.”

“Keep me company instead. I mean, it’s just the two of us here now.” He got some mugs and prepared the tea leaves, steeping them into the just-heated water. “Say, Kirijo Group has no plans of renting out the dorms?”

Mitsuru shook her head as she finished washing and dried her hands.

“Kirijo isn’t interested in expanding that side of our business. Also, we had enough challenges living with each other, what more other regular students?”

“Guess it’ll just be you and me until Fuuka comes back next year.”

“Yukari will be visiting once in a while, once she stops enjoying her newfound independence.”

Akihiko glanced at her. Mitsuru caught it, and sighed.

“I’m sorry, that sounded bitter, didn’t it?”

Akihiko handed over her mug of tea. “I hope it doesn’t mean you’re upset about being left with me.”

“I’m not, but...” She raised the mug to her lips, blowing the water to cool it slightly. She didn’t lift her gaze up to Akihiko’s. “I am slightly uneasy, knowing that we have some unresolved history...?”

“That was,” Akihiko sighed. “In a very different world.”

“Yeah,” Mitsuru realized. “It was.”

“You might kick me for this, but I have to say...I miss Tartarus. There are nights when I miss fighting for something more than a match.”

He braced himself for a lecture, but was surprised to see Mitsuru look thoughtful as she leaned against the kitchen counter.

“I miss it too.” Her admission seemed to cut at whatever tension there was in the air. She spoke slowly as she elaborated, “It doesn’t make sense, we’ve lost so much from it... but on bad days, I wish that another incident happens so all of us could stay together.”

“When did you that start wishing for that to happen?”

“The earliest I remember thinking of that was when Ken sat us down to talk about his Uncle’s offer. It’s terribly selfish, I know”

Akihiko sipped his tea, “I’ve thought of that since Minato passed away.”

A silence passed between them.

“We’ve fought so hard for peace,” Mitsuru said out loud, “And here we are, not knowing what to do with ourselves once we achieved it. I don’t know how we can ever get used to this empty space.”

Akihiko tipped his mug in her direction.

“This,” He said, referring to both of them, “Is a start.”

Mitsuru gave a faint smile.

“Yes, I guess this is.”

He put his just-emptied mug in the sink and washed it. After putting it in the dispenser and drying his hands, he reached out to give an affectionate but friendly squeeze on Mitsuru’s shoulder.

“Good night, Mitsuru.”

Mitsuru sipped the last of her tea as he watched him leave.

“Good night, Aki.”

**Author's Note:**

> I have been wanting to write AkiMitsu fic for YEARS, and it's only now that I've gotten around to it. eva_cybele has done them justice in her "learning to live after the world ends" series and I could not bear to even try following the same path. Yes, that deserved that kind of a dramatic statement.
> 
> So it got real here. Messy first times aren't something usually written about in fanfic, and I know I'm risking the crowd's favor. This felt like a necessary 'bad' to move these two forward as the arc unfolds, but I know that they will get better as time passes.
> 
> Did it work? Let me know!


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